Williams v. City of St. Louis

• Decision Date: 27 February 1894
• Citation: 25 S.W. 561,120 Mo. 403
• Parties: WILLIAMS et al. v. CITY OF ST. LOUIS.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

25 S.W. 561

120 Mo. 403

WILLIAMS et al. v. CITY OF ST. LOUIS.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

February 27, 1894.

DEEDS — DESCRIPTION — BOUNDARIES — LIMITATIONS.

1. A plat of land owned by plaintiff's grantor, represented the distance thereof, from north to south, to be 1,117 feet, and dedicated a street bisecting the land from east to west, and an alley bounding the land on the south. Thereafter he conveyed to plaintiffs lots bounded on the south by the alley, and on the north by the street, having a depth of 506 feet, as represented by the plat. Held that, though the land owned by the grantor was 1,157, instead of 1,117, feet from north to south, as shown by the plat, plaintiffs, having the number of feet their deeds called for, were not entitled to half of the surplus 40 feet, and to move the south line of the street 20 feet north.

2. Statutes of limitation, under Rev. St. 1879, § 3227, do not apply to lands granted to the public.

Appeal from St. Louis circuit court; Daniel Dillon, Judge.

Action by Mary A. Williams and others against the city of St. Louis. From a judgment for defendant, plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

W. B. Homer, for appellants. W. C. Marshall, for respondent.

GANTT, P. J.

This is a proceeding by injunction to restrain the city of St. Louis and its officers from removing obstructions placed by plaintiffs in Cheltenham avenue. The plaintiffs are the owners of certain lots fronting north on said avenue, on the south line thereof, and between Pierce and Sublette avenues, in said city. The lots of plaintiffs are only described in the petition by their frontage in feet on Cheltenham avenue. Their depth is not given. It is averred that in 1852 one Thomas Gray was the owner of a tract of land known as "Gratiot League Square," 1,157 feet deep from north to south, and 1,188 feet from east to west, containing 31 55-100 acres, in St. Louis county, Mo.; that on or about May 11, 1853, he subdivided and filed a plat of said land in the recorder's office of St. Louis county, dedicating therein to public use as a street or public highway said Cheltenham avenue; that in 1853 said Gray and wife sold the property now owned by the several plaintiffs to different parties, and placed them in possession thereof, and that they have remained in possession ever since, until a few months prior to the commencement of this injunction, without objection from the city or any one else; that on or about the 11th day of May, 1853, said Gray established the line of said Cheltenham avenue, giving the same a width of 60 feet; that the line so established remained as fixed by him until about the commencement of this suit, and trees were planted and fences built with reference thereto. Plaintiffs then aver that the city, through its marshal, had notified them they were encroaching upon said street, and warned them to remove their houses, fences, and other obstructions from 20 feet of ground claimed by said city as a part of said Cheltenham avenue, and by plaintiffs as belonging to them as a part of their lots fronting on said avenue. The answer was a general denial. A preliminary injunction was granted August 1, 1891, which was dissolved, on a final hearing, April 5, 1892, from which plaintiffs have appealed to this court.

The evidence shows that on the 11th day of May, 1853, Thomas Gray subdivided and platted his said property, and dedicated the streets and alleys to public use forever. On the 12th day of June, 1853, Thomas Gray filed for record an amended plat of the same property,...